Morgan Meis at The Easel:
I don’t remember exactly where or when I came across the book. I know it was in New York City sometime in the 1990s. I know that the book made a visual impact because I’ve remembered it ever since. When I heard that Miyake died, it was the first thing that came to my mind.
But I bring up the crazy and sometimes hilarious shapes and designs in the book for a more specific reason, and it is not to poke fun at haute couture, a tired exercise that was already boring more than a century ago. I bring up the book because Miyake was a fashion designer whose work demanded to be taken seriously as both fine art and popular culture. His ready to wear designs were, and remain, hugely successful. He was also the sort of fashion designer whose designs the editors of Artforum had no qualms about featuring on the cover of the magazine. Given his recent death, it seems a worthy endeavor to say a few loosely related things about what made Miyake so special.
Miyake’s unique fashion sensibility is undoubtedly related to Issey Miyake the person. He was, by all accounts, an exceptional individual.
More here.